Let’s hope readers don’t buy everything they read. While Lopez talks about being comfortable in her own skin, another story in the April issue unsettles. In “Weight Watcher,” author Dara-Lynn Weiss writes about putting her 7 year old on a restrictive diet while admitting to her own 30-year battle with food and weight issues. In describing the tumultuous year of restricting her daughter's intake, Weiss says her child “constantly whined about being hungry and begged for food she couldn't have.”

The backlash against Weiss — who has since signed a book deal — hasn't been pretty. But what about the long-term backlash for her daughter?

Never mind the “successful” weight loss of 16 pounds. “Just because the kid lost weight and doesn't have an eating disorder now doesn't mean it won't happen. One of the strongest predictors of eating disorders is putting a kid on a diet,” Tribole says.

But Tribole's outrage is directed at the magazine, not the unwitting mother.

“It's one thing if a parent is tragically misguided, which this one truly is, but to have a magazine publish it without any cautionary statement from a health professional was really irresponsible,” she says. “It validates what the mother is doing.”

So, what is the parent of an overweight child to do — or not do?

Tribole, a mother of two, shares some sound advice:

DO teach your kids to be intuitive eaters. Help them develop the skills to eat when hungry and stop when full. And don't give them external reasons to eat — because Mom and Dad said so, or because of what time it is or isn't. “The research is clear. When people are taught to recognize initial hunger and respond accordingly, weight tends to normalize,” Tribole says.

DO focus on the entire family at mealtimes; e.g., don't single out your overweight child. “What's good for health is good for the family, so eat meals of the same kinds of food together,” she says.

DON'T allow distracted eating. That means a tech-free zone at the dinner table. No TV, laptops, iPads or cellphones for kids or parents.

DO promote activity for the whole family. “You can't expect your kid to be active if you're not active,” she says. By the same token, limit screen/sedentary time. No more than an hour or two of television, computer and phone use a day.

DON'T use food as a reward. “If you have to eat all your vegetables to eat your dessert, you're sending the message that vegetables are so horrible you have to be rewarded to eat them. Or if your kid has to finish dinner to have dessert, they might end up overeating, having all of dinner and dessert as opposed to part of dinner and dessert,” Tribole says. Find ways other than food to reward good behavior.

DO trust your kids' hunger and fullness. The job of the parent is to provide the food; the job of the kid is to decide if and how much he or she will eat.

DON'T categorize foods as “good,” “bad” or “forbidden.” “When you start putting food into moralistic terms, it sends a message that I'm a bad person or good person depending on what I ate,” Tribole says.

DO avoid overarching food rules. “When there are rules around eating, like no desserts or sugar in the household, it can create an unhealthy obsession and keeps the food exciting and sought after,” she says. But “when you know you can have a food, it's less of a big deal emotionally.”

DO teach your kids to enjoy food. “Seeking a satisfying eating experience helps them get into balance and is a less threatening way of looking at healthy eating,” she says.

Claudia Zapata is a registered dietitian. Her column appears every other Sunday in Taste.

Email Claudia at czhealth@gmail.com, follow her at Twitter at @ClaudiaZapata and at Facebook at Claudia Zapata, MS, RD.